


The Fallen

by adventursplorer



Series: The Rebel Series [2]
Category: Original Work, The 100 (TV)
Genre: Background Relationships, Bellarke, CADMUS - Freeform, Cannibalism, Earth, F/M, Flesh Eaters, Island - Freeform, Leda Abby, Metagon, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Original Fiction, POV Original Character, The 100 - Freeform, paragon - Freeform, the ship - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2018-09-27 17:05:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 25,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10035470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adventursplorer/pseuds/adventursplorer
Summary: As Dante Wallace, leader of The Ship which rotates around the Earth, takes his last few breaths, he sees an illegal dropship being launched from the dropship station. As his eyes grow heavy and his vision darkens around the edges, his dying wish is that who ever was on that ship survived and continued what he thought was the last of the human race on Earth.Seven friends and two stowaways make their way down to Earth, crash landing just off the coast in the Pacific Ocean. They find an island, but will their new life down on Earth be as happy as they thought it would be, or did they just land in a new hell. Friendship, love and trust will be tested which could potentially have serious consequences.Could the nine all survive the perilous drop? Could they survive each other?





	1. 0

** Kate **

_20 Years Old_

Kate makes the journey down with her little brother; her only family, only to lose him in the first few minutes of landing. Her friends, but especially Talon (which  surprises her as they never got on well) support her through dealing with the loss and the new life on Earth. Despite the loss of her brother, will she be able to get through the tough challenges that Earth brings to her?

** Talon **

_21 Years Old_

Talon has been hopelessly in love with his childhood friend Kate, but because of all the loss in his life, he pushes her away and fighting becomes their norm. Can he change his ways and become someone that Kate could like in his new life on Earth?

** Ruby **

_20 Years Old_

Ruby hasn't really been her own person. She has always had her other half of Jake, believing he was the man that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. But will that change when they hit the ground, or will he still be the same person that she grew up knowing?

** Jake **

_21 Years Old_

From a young age, Jake and Ruby have been together. He knows that she's the one he wants to be with and will not let anything come between them.  Their group of friends has mainly stayed the same with a few additions along the way and Jake proves to show loyalty to all of them. However when a stowaway seems to be a threat to their friends, Jake shows great animosity towards him, which can prove to be the worst decision he makes on Earth.

** Lexi **

_19 Years Old_

Lexi doesn't trust easily, so when she trusts Alex, it comes as a great surprise to the group. She has always been shy and never really clicked with a few of her friends. She has many secrets and with her new friendships developing, she is intent on hiding her past.

** Alex **

_19 Years Old_

One of the stowaways that hides in the dropship. The group doesn't trust him but he finds something with Lexi and makes it his mission to try find out what she's hiding and what he knows she wants to tell him. However, one of the guys in the group decide that Alex is untrustworthy and even if he gains their trust, does he really want to be around people that he cannot fully trust.

** Kekoa **

_24 Years Old_

An orphan come security guard on The Ship that has nothing to live for, captures the group before their launch. He decides that instead of wasting his life away on The Ship and suffocate in space, he could potentially see Earth. As well as that, becoming closer with the beautiful girl on the dropship, who proves to be both a mystery and everything he ever needed, makes going to Earth the most amazing experience he's ever had.

** Jupiter **

_20 Years Old_

Jupiter who never felt like she belonged on The Ship, is more mature than the rest of her friends and is more of an outcast. She lost her mother two years before the drop and was taken in by Ruby, a girl in her Earth Skills class. Being part of the lowest class of The Ship, she has been at a disadvantage to the others and this further puts her apart from the group. Will she finally find her place on Earth?


	2. I

**_Jake_ **

I closed my eyes, gripping onto the seat handle next to me. The shaking never subsided, it only got worse with each Earth atmosphere we hit. We managed to pick up some extra baggage on the way, which I'm sure was affecting the way the ship was falling. I wasn't one for physics, so I refused to think of it in this moment. We were sure as hell doing better than the rest of The Ship however. I'm guessing they were all dead, all our families were dead. That was another thought I refused to think about as we dropped down to a potentially radiation soaked planet.

I feel a small hand cover mine and open my eyes to look across at the deep blue ones looking back at me. As long as I had Ruby next to me, I would be okay. At least this way, plummeting to our death, I would die next to her.

I look across at our group, Ruby besides me, the guard who managed to find us just before we set off, but instead of turning us in, jumped on instead.

The stowaway who I think found the ship at a different time and surprised us when we had set off, he looks like a Cadmus, the middle class of the ship.

Then there was Jupiter, she was one of Ruby's friends, born and raised on the rough side of the poorer station of the ship, called Paragon. She had a rough childhood, only growing up with her mother who died a few years back but Ruby took a liking to the shy girl and invited her on this adventure.

Then there's Talon, my best friend since before I can even remember.

Then Kate, who hates Talon with each and every fiber of her body, but she's one of Ruby's best friends (we still make it work), and her little brother Davon.

And finally, Lexi, Ruby's other best friend. Ruby, Talon, Kate, Lexi and I all have grown up on Metagon, which to say the least is the rich end of The Ship.

All of us had one thing in common. We were all selfish enough to leave our people to die and save ourselves. I had no qualms however, I was lucky enough to have the one person I cared about right besides me.

Our little crew looked nervous and I'm sure I looked the same. I closed my eyes as the ship shook even more and felt the tight squeeze of my hand get tighter. I looked at Ruby, wanting her to be the last thing I saw before I died.

Then we made impact.

**_Jupiter_ **

A clear liquid came pouring into the ship. I pulled at the strap across my chest in blind panic trying to get it off me. Large hands covered mine and I stopped looking into a pair of soft brown eyes which immediately calmed me down. Those pair of eyes belonged to the guard that decided to come with us.

I felt an odd trusting feeling for him and allowed him to undo the straps. He took my hand and pulled me up, we stood in the increasing clear liquid for a second before realizing what was happening. We needed to get out of here I didn't think there was going to be a way out of there. I looked at the guy next to me, "Boost me up." I tell him and he nods understanding where I was going. He took my foot in his hand lifted me up with ease.

I pushed at the broken roof, trying to find way to break the metal tile off. I pushed it hard several times before it broke free. I looked down at the guard and he gave me a smile of success. He boosted me up higher and I gripped the edge, pulling myself on top of the sinking ship.

The guard below disappeared for a second, no doubt to try and rally the others to get them to come up. There was floating debris all around the ship which we could use to stay afloat.  I look down to see him boosting the stowaway kid up, the guy pulls himself up easily and stands next to me, looking at the vast blue sea in front of us. He looks at me and offers his hand, "Alex." He introduces himself.

"Jupiter." I reply, briskly shaking his hand.

"Cute name." I look sideways at him and give him a small smile.

I watch the empty space below me and see the ship filling even more with water. I hear yelling and crouch down to try and see what the commotion was. It was too dark, but I could see movement. Ruby and Lexi managed to paddle over and pulled themselves up from the water they were treading in the ship to where I was standing.

The water level had gotten higher and I couldn't see the others. "Davon is stuck. There's metal debris blocking him and the belt won't budge. The boys are taking turns trying to move it but Davon's going to run out of air soon." Ruby tells me in a rush.

I look down into the inky blackness to see slight movement and the surfacing of two people. Kate thrashing against Talon. "You asshole. You left him down there to die." She yells at him, hitting his chest. She tries to swim down, but Talon keeps his hold on her.

"Kate, he's already gone. We did our best. I'm sorry." Talon takes her face in his hands, making her look at him and tries to reason with her as the guard and Jake then finally surface next to them.

Jake gives Kate a look of sorrow and Kate wails in the water pushing Talon back. Alex signals to bring her closer to the edge and he pulls her onto the top of the sinking ship.

"We need to move quickly or we will get sucked down with the ship." I tell them and turn to the sea and the drifting debris ahead of us. "Jump into the water and try and paddle to get to those floating pieces of plastic over there. Make sure you get the ones that are big enough to sit to rest on because we won't be able to swim forever." I tell them and move to the edge of the ship which is almost under and look back at the others who give me a slight questioning look.

I ignore their scrutiny and jump in, moving my arms and legs to stay afloat to get to the nearest piece of large plastic. I hear a splash behind me and look to see the guard jump in and make his way over to me.

The others soon follow suit after me showing them that the plastic stays afloat. They spread to other floating pieces quickly, Talon and Alex pulling Kate along in her state of shock. Jake, Ruby and Lexi found another piece and the unnamed guard and I were together.

"Boy's take off your belts and strap them through holes on the pieces, we can't afford to drift apart." I say to them and they all follow suit, now getting the importance of what I was saying. "Talon, do you know which side of America we're on?" I question the blonde as he grips onto the large plastic float in front of him.

"We were meant to land on the west side in a state previously called Oregon. So, my bet is we landed in the sea to the west so we can't be that far out. Or at least I hope so." He says and I nod.

"We move east. Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, right? So, the sun should set behind us."  Alex, the stowaway states and everyone looks at him surprised.

"Yeah, alright we should get moving if we're going to reach land anytime soon." Lexi says, seemingly unfazed by what Alex had just said.

I catch the guards eye after finishing strapping the last belt and extend my hand. "Jupiter. Nice to meet you, even in these circumstances."

"Kekoa, and nice to meet you too. How do you know how to do all this stuff?" He questions me taking my hand gently and giving it a small squeeze and shake.

"I don't know, it just makes sense. Survival instincts?" I say to him, with a joking smiling and he gives me a flash of a smile and a nod in understanding. I continue to say, "and I suppose a thank you is in order for not turning us in and for helping me back there." I say to him, looking at the surroundings.

He smiles at me and replies saying, "We're all going to have to help each other if we're going to survive this place."

I smirk at him and say, "Welcome to Earth."

"Earth." He sighs out the word in wonder, like it was the first time he had heard of it. I guess that was the moment that reality had set in that we were finally on the planet we had spent all our lives learning about, thinking we would never get there.

We move our legs in time, following the previous pathway of the sun, hoping that the direction we were going in would lead to land.


	3. II

**_Kekoa_ **

_It was not a normal working day on the ship. Oxygen levels were thinning out and people were dropping left, right and center from the deficiency. I myself was managing just fine, trying to be as calm as possible._

_It wasn't easy with the death toll rising every hour and it was a surprise to myself that I had made it this far. 'Your parents would've been proud of you.' A subconscious thought surfaces._

_The reminder of my parents keeps me walking through the hall way, watching for any signs of suspicion._

_I walk half the hall way and notice one of the airlock lights are yellow above one of the doors. These rooms were strictly prohibited to be in and the younger kids were known to come down here and mess around. I was one of those kids a couple years ago and knew each room like the back of my hand._

_The one with a yellow light above was one that held an unusable dropship. My thoughts race, trying to imagine what could be going on in there and before I could stop myself I rushed to open the door and found a guy a few years younger than me holding the lever._

_I draw my unused gun at him and take the safety off, alerting him of my presence. His wild eyes darted to the several people in the ship and then back to me. There were numerous racing thoughts that went through my brain and the one that I shouldn't have thought of stuck._

_'Get on and go. What do you have to lose?'_

_I put the safety of my gun back on and holstered it. Looking at the guy. "How many seats do you have left?" I questioned him._

_"More than enough to fit one more person on." He yelled back over the increasingly louder noise._

_I take a few hesitant steps towards him and then gain my confidence striding towards the ship. I really did not have anything to lose and I was going to either die a slow oxygen deprived death, or possibly experience Earth. The decision really wasn't that hard to make._

_He pulls the lever and the doors shut with an airlock. I look around at the people around me all from the ages of 18 to 20._

_A brunette guy and girl holding hands, probably a couple.  A pretty blonde girl sitting by herself with a brave face, staring straight ahead at the empty seat in front of her._

_Another blonde sending a scrutinizing glare at the tanned blonde guy at the door with a black haired girl and a younger teen sitting with dusty blonde hair sitting either side her. My guess was that the younger kid was the blonde with the glares brother._

_I quickly find my seat near the brave faced blonde and strap myself in, ignoring the glances and confused looks from the other passengers. The guy at the door holds onto a rail and presses a button which then shakes the dropship and starts off the rocket boosters. He sits down and straps in, using a tablet to control what was going on with the ship, so I assumed he was in the engineering sector._

_I see movement out the corner of my eye and a figure scampering from a hidden position to one of the seats. I hear the guy holding the girl's hand say, "I guess this ship wasn't as big of a secret as we thought."_

_'Not by a long shot, kiddo.' I think, smirking to myself._

_I look to my right at the blonde girl who looks straight ahead, no fear evident. I admire her and her bravery because I honestly felt so scared in that moment. I shut my eyes and squeezed the armrest beside me tightly as the ship shook._

_We had started our descent._

Now I grip onto this piece of plastic afloat with the brave blonde, Jupiter, swimming besides me. The couple swimming a few meters away from us were Ruby and Jake, Talon was the guy at the door and Kate was the blonde with the brother that drowned. Lexi was the girl sitting beside Kate on the ship and Alex was the stowaway.

I keep a mindful watch on all of them, making sure that they are okay. These people were going to be my family now, and we couldn't afford to lose any more of us.

**_Alex_ **

_I ran my hands through my sandy blonde hair yet again, standing waiting for the guards to come past. A minute went_ _by_ _and they swooped_ _across the hall_ _, not detecting me._

_I scrambled out of my hiding place and walked down the corridor. Suddenly I heard noises coming from up ahead from the Metagon station. A bunch of people around the same age as me quickly run to one of the_ _seemingly locked_ _doors._

_I watch curiously seeing them open the door with hushed voices except for one of the blonde girls saying, "I can't wait to leave this stupid ship." My curiosity increases and I edge closer to the door. As it closes I catch a glimpse of a sheet flying off what I could presume was a dropship._

_When the door is closed, I press my ear to it. "When are we leaving, because this is getting bad. The children are really struggling and it's going to be us dropping soon. Not just them." One of the girls say. "In all honesty, we'll be doing a favour by leaving because we won't be consuming the oxygen." Another girl speaks up, if I'd have to guess, the blonde one that was speaking when they went into the room._

_"We'll, how about tomorrow?_ _There are seven of us and twelve seats. Those that we asked didn't want to come so if you have any last minute requests, I suggest you ask them today." The guy stayed silent for a second, waiting for anyone to offer a name._

_When no one didn't, he continued, "So then, t_ _he ship is ready and fixed, I know how to launch and we're in the right placement for us to be dropping down near the previous America."_

_"Tomorrow it is. At seventeen hundred hours, the ship will be aligned correctly with land, Talon, you know how to land this thing?" The other guy asked._

_"You betcha." Talon then said._

_I backed away from the door and ran down the hallway to pack a small bag for my trip down to Earth._


	4. III

**_Jupiter_ **

It had seemed like we had been going for weeks now, but I knew that was not possible because the sun had to set at one point had only set five times. We had survived four nights out here in the ocean, floating on plastic, eating what little rations of dehydrated food we had managed to store.

"What station are you from?" I ask Kekoa as we swim deciding to pass the time by getting to know the handsome guard a little bit more, rather than the small talk we had upheld the past few days.

"Cadmus. You?" He asks looking at me.

"Paragon." I say, seeing him raise his eyesbrows in surprise. "It wasn't much and I didn't have anything to stay for so I came down with these guys." I pause and then tentatively ask, "Did you leave anyone up there?", hoping I wouldn't be crossing a line

He easily answers, saying "Nah, my parents died when I was a baby and I don't have any siblings. How come you got stuck with a crew of Metagons?" He says smiling at me and I completely understand why he was asking as it was rare to see the two sectors of The Ship mingling amongst each other.

Paragon was the poorest part of The Ship where there was a high death rate, mainly from starvation or the cold.

We were the station that had very little credits per household and no heating units. Metagon was the richest part and Cadmus was somewhere in between.

I sigh and start to explain my 'sob story', "Ruby became friends with me after I lost my mom. I was told in the middle of class that she had died and I had no clue what to do. She immediately stood up and took me outside to calm me down and look after me. From there I guess we became friends." I tell him.

"Yeah? That's nice of her, but seriously unheard of." He says laughing, but it was so true.

"She's got a very good heart." I reply and decide to change the subject, "So, the guard? Why'd you join?" I ask, watching him and seeing the bright smile drop slightly, becoming kinder.

"Well I grew up in the foster care system of The Ship and the guard helps out some of the kids there. I decided I wanted to be like them and so I did." He tells me.

"Good for you. Do you like it?" I question.

"Yes and no. I give back to the foster system and help those in need but then there's the aspect of walking the hallways which isn't exactly riveting, is it?" He says and I laugh.

"Was anything up there?" I say and he joins in with my laughter.

I temporarily forgot that I was drifting in an ocean with potentially no end, well maybe an end to my life. However, I was enjoying the time I had left with the highly attractive guard with a beautiful personality.

He gives me a soft smile and shakes his head. "I like you Jupiter." He tells me and I blush and duck my head down at his statement. "Where did you get your name from, it's very unique." He asks me after some contemplation of his own.

"I never knew my father, but my mom told me a story about how Jupiter was his favourite planet and that when they went stargazing on one of the viewing decks when they were younger, he would always point out where the planet was to my mom. She named me after it so I would have a piece of my dad with me for the rest of my life." I tell him and shrug as if it was nothing. "As for unique names, yours is too. Do you know where yours came from?" I ask him.

"It was apparently an islander name on Earth, which my family apparently originated from. I don't know what the island was called though." He watches the horizon in front of him and I nod.

"I like it." I say simply and smile out towards our sixth sunset, completely different from the last one.

And I suddenly had a very odd question that just seemed to slip out. "What do we actually know about the sun? Like we've not been there or close to it, so it could be totally different to what it may seem." I say and see him glance over at me, probably speculating my sanity.

He still replies, "Who knows. We haven't been down here for over a hundred years and all we've got to go by are lessons taught from books written a century ago. For all we know, the Greek myths of the goddess Hesperides, the god Helios and the goddess Selene could be true."

"You know about greek myths?" I ask, surprised because no one really knew more than what they were taught and we had only heard of the Greek and roman myths in passing.

He nods and looks slightly embarrassed. "Can you tell me about them?" I say to him and he gives me a questioning look as if I actually wanted to know. "I was never given the opportunity to read anything other than what was taught to us in lessons, so I want to know."

"Okay, so I'll start with the sun and the moon, Helios represents the sun and Selene represents the moon. Helios would travel across the sky in his blazing chariot pulled by horses that breathed fire and Selene in hers with pure white horse with her veil of stars." He continues to tell me the different stories of the Greek gods and their sons and daughters.

I listened intently as the sun descended on the horizon behind us, creating a burst of oranges and reds that scattered the sky, reflecting off the water making it seem almost like a painting. The sky in front of us darkened and the first star shone brightly in the sky.

Soon the last slither of the sun sunk below historically deemed end of the earth. "I guess we'll never know more about the sun than we do." Kekoa says after watching in silence.

I pull myself fully onto the floating large piece of plastic and sit, trying to balance it so Kekoa could get on too. I see the others mimicking what we had done, tired of the swimming. I just hoped that the currents were taking us to land.

**_Kate_ **

"Kate?" I hear Talon question me and I snap out of my reverie and hum acknowledging him. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" He asks me and I turn my head sharply towards him. Why was he being so nice? Did he even have a right to talk to me?

"Piss off, I'm not in the mood." I snap at him after days of being babied by everyone else, the last thing I needed was the same thing from him.

"I'm just trying to be nice Kate. Nothing else. The least you could do is be polite back." He snaps back at me. This was more like the Talon I knew and I was ready for a fight, ready for some sense of normality.

"What after all these years and you being a complete dick to me? You hate me, admit it, Talon!" I exclaim but continue without him answering because I know the answer, I know he does.

"You hate me and I have no clue why, one day you're fine and then the next you shove me out of your life. You know Davon was heartbroken when he couldn't see Christopher anymore and then even more so when he found out that he didn't get to see him before he died. And I couldn't help but feel like it was my fault because you pushed me away and I didn't know how to make it better-" I am about to continue on my tirade when he takes my hand and shuts me up.

"Kate, it was my fault. I pushed you away, you did nothing wrong." He pauses for a second looking up and sighing, "Look, this is kind of embarrassing to admit but I liked you when we were younger and I couldn't express my feelings properly so I did the only thing that I thought would make it right. I was a dick and I'm sorry, I guess as we grew up we continued to fight over the most pointless shit and I should've apologised sooner. So, I'm sorry for saying all that stuff to you and I'm sorry about Davon." He tells me and squeezes my hand.

I feel slightly taken aback but what he just said but I actually smile for the first time in what feels like days.

This was the old Talon; the Talon I knew from before the fighting and arguing. "I'm sorry I blamed you for not trying hard enough to save Davon. I know you did, you all did." I say to him and he gives me a sad smile, squeezing my hand. I duck my head down, trying to fight off the tears.

"I should've done more." He says softly and I shake my head and look up at him with the tears that threaten to fall.

"You could've died too and I don't know what I would've done." I tell him and look up, trying to rid myself of the tears.

"Kate it's okay to cry, you know? You've been through a lot these past few days, we all have and it's okay to be weak as long as you have someone to protect you and you've got all of us, plus two extras. Take as much time as you need, alright?" He says to me and I nod and give him a watery smile squeezing his hand again.

"How did your dad take you leaving? Did you tell him?" I ask him, trying to change the topic and get my mind off Davon.

"He doesn't really pay attention to anything anymore, after Chris. Spends most of his time spending his credits looking down a bottle. So, I just left him to it." He tells me sighing and looking back at the ever changing horizon, with reds, yellows and oranges mixing together, with the sun creating a burst in the middle.

"I'm sorry about Christopher, by the way. I don't think I ever said that." I say to him and he gives me a grateful smile.

"It's okay, the past is the past and I've had my rough patch and everything seems to be getting better." He says and I nod.

"I'm glad." I say and see that Jupiter and the guard have pulled themselves up onto their piece of plastic. I then see the blonde haired stowaway doing the same and I nudge Talon to do the same.

We settle on the plastic, balancing and finally feeling rest, I shut my eyes. If we didn't find land tomorrow, I'm sure we were going to die.

I feel for Talon's hand and hold it. He grips it and doesn't let go as the water continues to take us to either our new life or certain death.


	5. IV

**_Kate_ **

Breathing was difficult, moving was sluggish. The playback of the last bubble escaping my brother's lips as water flowed into his lungs, killing him kept replaying through my mind. I see his lifeless eyes staring at me and his pale hand reaching out to touch mine one last time. He was just 16; 16 and dead now sitting somewhere in this damned ocean in which we were lost.

All I could think about was him missing his chance growing up and seeing so much more and me failing to keep the promise I made to mother.

_I was four when he was born, a doctor held the child in one of her arms and my hand in the other. My mother smiled at us both proudly as little did I know; she was taking her final breaths. "Watch over him Katie Cat", She told me, as I barely understood what she was saying at the time, why she was saying it._

_Then there was a noise that I had never heard in my life, coming from one of the machines. A rapid beeping sound which all merged into one high pitched noise. I was rushed out of the room with this child, the child I was to watch over for the rest of my life. The doctors did their best, but it was not good enough because I did not have my mother standing next to me, holding my hand with my new baby brother._

_Davon and I were then given to a old couple wanting children, but unable to bear any. They were nice people; held a lot of credit in Metagon. They put us through school and fed us, but they weren't our parents, and as much as we loved them, we couldn't call them mom and dad._

_The chance of losing someone like we did again was too painful to go through, so I avoided making strong attachments to the people that took us in. Davon was my family and that's all I really needed._

_I watched him grow up, helped him with his homework, protected him from all the bullies because he was called an 'unwanted' child. I was so proud of him when he stood up to them, but only to come home with an ice pack over his eye and a two-day suspension which I simply laughed off. Boy, did those kids get shit from me the next day._

_Davon always played with other kids outside his class, mainly Talons little brother who passed away a few years back. Talon and I used to be close and then Talon turned into someone  horrible that I could barely recognise one day and well I could've punched him too._

_I'm pretty sure I've slapped him more times than I can count on one hand. Literally, he just changed like a light bulb had switched off in his head. I would take my little brother to his family's place just down the hall and let the kids play for hours on end while Talon and I hung out._

_I thought Talon was my best friend and as I grew older, I found a different love for him but he crushed that. It was more that felt sorry for Davon, as one of the most heartbreaking things I had done was say that he couldn't play at Christopher's house anymore, because Talon didn't want me there._

_That was around the first time I had slapped him for telling me exactly that and calling my brother and I 'unwanted runts' in a massive fight that had broken out between the two of us. It then just became normal for Talon and I to give each other snide comments._

_What made it even worse was when Ruby, one of my best friends started going out with Jake, who was Talon's best friend. So, we started hanging out in a group and as long as we weren't left alone, (which there were few times that happened, which were the times he got slapped) we were fine and would just ignore each other._

_As Davon grew up, he would always ask me if Talon and I were friends again and then complain because he couldn't go over to his friend's house. Every single time it broke my heart and just made me even more angry at Talon._

_However, after Talons brother's death, he became even more bitter and mean to the point of not even speaking to me and just glaring at people he didn't like. When Davon was 14, he did offer to punch Talon after one of our more vicious fights broke out where I will admit it was my fault for pushing him over the edge, which included flying objects on my behalf. But in any case, I didn't see a 14-year-old trying to punch a 19-year-old to be very successful._

_Talon went into mechanics and in all honesty, as much as I hate to admit it, he was the one that found the dropship first and gave us our first slither of hope, that we would survive the oxygen depletion on the ship. Him and Jake worked in the same station but Jake decided he was more interested in the botany side of things and worked with trees and flowers instead._

_They became quick friends and after Jake realised that I was friends with Ruby, I was invited out to a lot more things, most of which also included Talon and I. I then learnt to tolerate the jack ass and found that I could still see some of the old, real Talon that I knew and liked years ago. That made it easier to hang out with him because I hoped that he would stop being so irritable and start being who he really was._

Talon swam next to me and kept looking over at me with concern. I tried to calm down, but just thinking of Davon made me want to break down. I needed to stay strong though, we had made it this far and regardless, dying down here would be better than suffocation back on The Ship.

**_Jake_ **

My muscles were starting to feel burn with the swimming. I ploughed on through, we needed to find land or otherwise we would die out here. I figured we would also need to find water as from what I learnt in our lessons about Earth, the salt water in the oceans down here was not drinkable. I look at Ruby and Lexi next to me and see them struggling a bit as well, but staying strong.

The others also were looking quite tired; we would need to stop soon and let the current take us onwards. I could see Jupiter talking to the guard we picked up and I could give it to him, he really tried to help Davon even though he didn't know any of us. He seemed trustworthy and I hoped he was; we would need all the help we could get to survive this.

I looked over at how Kate was doing and could see she was struggling emotionally. Talon was talking to her and put a hand over hers. She smiled at him and it was possibly one of the strangest sights I had seen. 

Whenever they were left alone together, they would fight like there was no tomorrow. They hated each other as far as I knew, so them getting on like this was so odd to see. Ruby noticed it too and just smiled at them and nodded at me like she knew something I didn't. "Since when?" I questioned.

"Since always. They used to be best friends or something like that when they were younger. He had a younger brother that died, but before that Davon used to play with him. Kate and Talon would spend a lot of time at each other's places and so they became friends. But she told me, one day he just flipped and said some mean things to her. Then he lost his brother and well, just changed completely." She tells me. 

Why didn't I know about this before, Talon was my best friend and never told me anything about him and Kate. I could understand what she meant about him changing because the first time I met him, he wasn't in a good place and had an extremely short temper for anything. He had gotten better over the years now and was fine besides the massive arguments that he and Kate had.

Lexi then speaks up, "My guess is he used to like Kate, and like most boys do, they bully the girl they like and maybe he still does like her." She says looking over at them and Ruby nods in agreement as she sees Talon give Kate a small smile as she ducks her head down.

I look past them and see our stowaway swimming on another piece of floating plastic. I didn't know how I felt about him and would be sure to make sure I knew he was trustworthy before joining us any further if we reached land.

We needed to reach land soon because we would tire out needing to eat and drink water. We still had our packs and the food in there was dehydrated packed so we didn't need to worry as long as we preserved the canteens of water we had. I smiled over at Ruby and she smiled back at me making it seem like everything was going to be alright.


	6. V

**_Alex_ **

The last few days of my life were to say the least, exciting. I had left behind the hell of a life I had on The Ship and came down here on this adventure which left us stranded in the sea.

In all honesty, now, I was bored. We had been swimming for days and now stuck on these stupid pieces of drift plastic, we had nothing left to do. I had heard the two blondes starting talking about their troubles in life and had left them to another piece which we had attached.

The black haired girl who I found out was called Lexi had to share my raft with me for the night and I could tell that she was apprehensive about it.

She swam over to my raft and asked nervously if she could bunk with me. I helped her out of the water and we talked for a bit so to try and gain her trust, but I could see the others giving us looks, making sure she was okay and seeing if I was alright to be around.

They fully had a right to not trust me as I knew the creepy types you would find on The Ship. Luckily for them, I was not one of them, but they didn't know that and until they knew who I actually was, they wouldn't trust me.

For now though, they didn't trust me and I didn't have a right to their trust just yet, but swimming in the ocean for what could be eternity, I didn't really care. As soon as we found land, I had the horrifying thought that they were probably going to push me out of their circle so I would have to fend for myself.

However in trying to get to know Lexi, I found her to be very secretive, she didn't really say much about her family on The Ship just that it didn't matter when I had asked. I figured that she had a rough childhood even though she grew up on Metagon.

She was quite nice though, and I even allowed her to give me an interrogation because she had bluntly told me that they didn't trust me to which I had laughed and told her that I knew.

I told her of how I found out about how and when they were going, I also told her a bit about my family; about my brother who I had to leave behind because he didn't want to leave his wife. I had told him she could've come too, but he found that dying on The Ship and living just that little bit longer would be a better bet than falling to your death down to Earth.

I told Lexi that I had given him the option and if he wanted to come, to meet me at the viewing dock but he never came so I left without saying goodbye, to which she gave me a sad smile. I took that as an olive branch and found that I could trust her too.

I stayed up for a bit as she went to sleep and felt her occasionally jumping in her sleep next to me, from what I could assume was a nightmare. Every time she did, I would lightly shake her shoulder to wake her up slightly so that her nightmare would go away.

After she was finally soundly asleep, I focused on the millions of stars in the sky and the bright moon as I lay back. I couldn't make out any of the constellations that I had once read about as the sky was just peppered in them. One of them could've been our old home.

I saw a shooting star across the night sky and wished my brother a goodnight and a painless death.

**_Kekoa_ **

I woke up in what I guessed was the dark hours of the morning seeing the bright starry night above me. I could describe it as glittering, noticing few of the constellations which I had taught myself and thought of the stories which came with them.

A shooting star blazed across the sky and I wished that I could survive long enough to see land on this forsaken planet. I turned my head to Jupiter, checking if she was okay and finally closed my eyes to try and find sleep again.

I woke just as the sun broke through the horizon in front of us. According to what was taught to us, the sun would rise on the opposite side to where it had set in the west.

I was hopeful as when I had gone to sleep the first night I was facing the direction the sun should rise and it did, which hopefully ten days later meant that we were still going in direction with the sun and if we weren't dropped too far off the coast, would find land today.

I felt Jupiter stirring besides me and looked down at her noticing her soft features as she slept, I couldn't help but think she would be the one to keep me sane being stuck out here.

I looked around to see the others still also sleeping peacefully in their pods of plastic. The black haired girl, I think her name was Lexi, had moved to share with the blonde guy that hid in the dropship, as the one with Ruby and Jake was too small to share for three.

The other raft was floating close by with the girl that had lost her brother and the guy that she was screaming at. Asleep and holding hands, they looked much more peaceful than when they were awake.

It was an odd sight as they slept in the middle of the vast ocean on primitive flotation devices, all of them still dreaming, probably thinking they were still on The Ship with the families they had left behind to come down for a second chance at life.

Jupiter shifted besides me and I looked down just in time to see her blue eyes break open. I remember seeing her pulling at her straps in blind panic in the dropship but now she took in her new environment calmly, remembering where she was and finally looked at me with a sad smile. "Any land yet?" She questioned and I realised I hadn't even bothered to look yet.

Floating and the ocean had become a customary thing now in the few days that we had been out here and seeing a small speck in the distance, could prove to be a mind trick. However, there was a speck in the distance and looking at Jupiter, I knew she could see it too.

Her eyes lit up with what could only be called hope and a smile, mimicking mine, broke out through her radiant features. I think back to the wish I made in the middle of the night, thinking that maybe wishing on shooting stars could actually make wishes come true as I got to live to see land. Now all we needed to do was get there.

"Guy's get up!" She yelled, waking the others abruptly. "There's land." She points it out and all the others look at it, immediately waking up at the sight.

"We need to start swimming right now; we don't know how long it'll take to get there." I tell them as lower myself into the water.

Jupiter jumps in next to me and helps me push along the plastic. The others follow behind and we make our way to the land in which we would live our new life.

 


	7. VI

**_Kate_ **

Just when I had almost given up hope, thinking just as I had fallen asleep that we would not find land, we did. We actually had a chance of surviving this hellish planet after all.

Talon had shaken me awake with excitement in his eyes and I immediately knew that there was hope after all.

This planet may have taken my brother, but it gave me something to live for and it seemed like things were actually getting better. I just wished Davon was here to see it, the different colours, instead of the bleak grey that we had back on The Ship.

I could see the green and brown in the distance as we neared the land, from what I could tell it was an island.

Everything was vibrant, the sky, the sea and the land. I even saw clouds, white puffs in the air which looked a lot like bits of cotton. I immediately became obsessed with them and felt this compelling need to want to touch one.

This was Earth, this was my home.

I had a burst of power run through my legs which drove me to swim harder towards the island so I could see what it would be like to step on solid ground.

I could see the others with the same drive, pushing them towards the new experience of a new life. I couldn't help but think if land would be a blessing or what other terrors wait for us there. Earth itself proved that it could kill us and it didn't need any help in doing so, what other death traps could be brought to us?

Still, I ploughed on with the rest of them, pushing my fears behind me and building my excitement for what was to come.

"What do you think it's going to be like?" Talon asks me, seeming hesitant.

"Vibrant, colourful. It's given us a hope for a new life." I say to him, trying to remain positive.

"I'm terrified, in all honesty." He admits and clears his throat.

"Why?" I ask him, curious as to why he doesn't seem to be as excited as the rest of them.

"Because I don't know it and who knows what else is going to be out there that could potentially kill us." He answers but pauses thinking, "I suppose it's better than dying out here, starving or dying of dehydration."

"Let's just hope we find fresh water and food on the island." I think out loud and he hums in agreement.

"We can finally put to use those Earth skills lessons which were of no use to us up there." He says jokingly.

"Please. You staying awake in those lessons was an impossibility, I doubt you remember shit from them." I tease and he gives me a weak glare.

"I stayed awake long enough to know the title, thank you very much." He jokes and I laugh.

"That's going to get you a long way down here." I joke, smirking.

"Well you still know your stuff, don't you? Miss 'A star' in Earth Skills." He smirks right back and I couldn't help this feeling of happiness of being able to talk to Talon like this again.

"I do, so you can just relax your one brain cell." I say and he even laughs. Previously, he would've come back with a snide comment and I would've probably hit him with something.

"I've at least got two alright. I did manage to get us down here, remember? Don't mention the fact that we didn't land where we were supposed to, weight distribution and the hold up because of the guard meant we were slightly off course." He says.

"Okay fair enough. You've got three then." I tell him.

"Three! Are you serious? Thank you so much." He exclaims sarcastically and I just back hand his arm lightly and we laugh.

We closed in on the island during the day, with Kekoa telling us at around midday, that he thought we had approximately four more miles to go. Hopefully we would arrive before dark because I didn't want to be swimming not knowing what was below me.

**_Jake_ **

I had learnt the stowaways name was Alex, Lexi and him were pushing the furthest raft and seemed to be getting on well. However, there was still something about him that I couldn't trust, but to Ruby he seemed fine. I didn't like the guy in all honesty, and the sooner he went away, the better it would be for all of us.

We seemed to be going so slowly, it seemed like it would take days to get to what seemed to be an island. The currents were helping us a bit, taking us in but the water was getting rougher creating what were called waves.

Ruby was struggling a bit and I could see Kate and Lexi were too. Jupiter seemed fine and she was talking away with her new friend, Kekoa. He seemed nice enough and I found that I trusted him more than I trusted Alex.

The next few hours dragged by but, seeing the water get shallower and the white sand granules gave us the extra push to walk on land again.

Talon being the tallest was finally able to set foot down onto the sand below and trudge through pulling Kate who was still floating and laughed at something he said.

I still found their dynamic quite strange but I was glad they were finally getting along.

All of us were soon walking and pulling the plastic rafts behind us, I could see the green trees, called palm trees, which would soon loom over us as we got closer. I studied them in The Ship and was excited to see how they differed down here.

We dragged the rafts high up onto the beach so we could use them for things like shelter, as Jupiter and Kekoa told us. They seemed to be the 'Earth Skills couple of the year', somehow knowing so much about how we could survive. However, without them, we would've been dead or lost.

My feet on the warm sand was a new sensation and I loved every bit of it. Ruby walked out to me and bumped my shoulder, "We survived, babe." She says softly.

I turn and kiss her replying with, "We survived", pausing in the middle of the kiss to then say, "I love you." She kisses me back and wraps her arms around my waist as we watch the waves move in and out from the shore.

"We best help with the shelter and collecting together all of what we managed to keep, it could rain sometime while we're out here and we don't want to be stuck outside when that happens." She says and we make our way back to the group which was to become our family.

We found that collectively, we still had a lot of dehydrated food satchels which if we rationed would at least last three weeks.

We would have to find other food in that time, or learn to hunt if animals even survived the nuclear explosion. I did see that the palm trees held coconuts so if we found a way, we could get those and if they were as they were written in my books, we could drink the water to rehydrate.

Everything seemed to be coming together and I knew that we actually had a chance at survival now.


	8. VII

**_Jupiter_ **

Ten days on a raft with someone and you're bound to have a connection with them by the time you reach land. Kekoa and I had that connection, and I realised how much I liked him and didn't want to leave him. I had mainly stuck with Kekoa, or he with me. Either way, we were stuck together and had decided to take a walk into the forest. 

I could see that Lexi and Alex had a similar idea and he was pointing out to her something in the tree line, down the beach to which she nodded. I felt that I could trust him and seeing that Lexi trusted him just confirmed it. Simply, she didn't trust easy and if she trusted him then I would too.

Kekoa looked over his shoulder at me, waiting. I smiled and followed after the striking tanned guard who looked totally in his element being here. I felt it too, the love of the earth and water, the feeling of belonging.

I caught up to him and bumped my shoulder with him and he smiled down at me. We walked in silence for a few minutes be he broke it asking, "Tell me what your mom was like." I looked up at him for a second.

"She was wonderful, smart. I always thought I knew better than her but she was always right." I pause giving a small laugh at the memory of her. "She never cared for material things and living in Paragon that was a given. She told me that the things that make you beautiful are your morals and values. The better the person... the stronger the person you were, the more beautiful you were, inside and out." I tell him and he gives me a soft smile, "So I tried to be strong. It was never because of wanting to be beautiful, it was to prove something. Prove that even though I came from Paragon I was someone. When she died, I felt my world crumble around me but I knew I had to stay strong. I knew that was what she wanted." I finish.

"What about your dad?" He questions and I give a sharp laugh.

"I didn't know him. My mom always told me stories of him, such as the origin of my name, but I never knew him or if he was alive." I tell him bitterly thinking about whoever the man was. "My mom was always enough for me." I say softly. "I don't know what I would've done without her. How did you do it?" I ask him slowly, feeling like I may have overstepped a boundary.

He however, raises his eyebrows and stated, "They left me a letter and a book of the history and myths of the ancient Greece and Rome which was apparently my dad's, and when I was old enough to read the lady at the orphanage gave it to me. The letter basically said that my parents would always be with me in my heart and that I should grow up to be a hero like the ones I read about. So, I grew up wanting to be like the heroes Perseus and Hercules and it's another reason why I joined the guard." He tells me with a sad smile. I reach for his hand and squeeze it.

"Hey Jupiter?" He says to me and I look up at him, expectant, "I think you're strong, we would not have survived if it wasn't for you." He pauses, smiling, "And your mother was right because you're beautiful inside and out." I duck my head down, smiling as I blush at his comment.

We walk further into the forest, now crowded with what I think were pine trees, the symbolic Christmas tree from what I knew. I could hear a running water sound. I stop Kekoa, listening intently as to where it may be coming from. He seems to hear it and follows the sound to where we find a small stream, it doesn't look clean so I follow it up, trying to see if it widens up.

Kekoa follows closely behind me, watching that I don't slip. I see the water source getting slightly wider and running faster. We break into a clearing where I see one of the most amazing sights of a crystal clear lake and a small waterfall on a small cliff face. 

I start stripping my shirt off and I look at Kekoa behind me and he has the same idea, already pulling off his shirt. I lift my eyebrow up at his fit figure with a smirk. 

"See something you like," he comments and see him give me a quick up and down too. 'Very much so' I think to myself and turn to the lake and look over my shoulder to see him eyeing my lower back.

"See something you like?" I tease and walk into the water, turning to see him give a chuckle.

He follows me in soon after, "It's only natural for a man to not be able to take his eyes off someone so stunning." He says to me wading through the water, getting closer. He stops just short of me and puts his hands on my waist, pulling me closer. There was no denying it anymore, I was way past just being attracted to him and there was nothing stopping us.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, breathing him in as he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. Only over a week and I already had fallen for him. I kissed him like it was my last day, and living out here I knew it could potentially be. I rested my forehead against his, clutching onto him as I could not stand in the now deeper water. He gave a small laugh and gave me a small kiss again. "I like you Kekoa." I say to him, returning the favour.

After lounging around the waterfall area for a while, we packed up our stuff and changed and continued our search for food. I picked a few berries that I had found on bushes but decided that until we knew they were safe, we would not eat them. 

I saw a bird pecking at a type of fruit in a tree, if it was harmless to them, then it could be safe for us. Kekoa watched me as I approached the tree, I looked at the low branches and looked back at him with a cheeky smile. He gives me a confused look before understanding what I was doing when I had managed to get up to the first branch. 

"Careful Jupiter." He warned and then pointed at a branch which I would be able to climb to and scoot along to pick off the fruit. From his instruction, we managed to get a lot of the bright orange and red streaked fruits which we would carry back to the camp.

Once Kekoa had helped me down from the tree, we heard a yelling in the distance and the dreaded thought of 'What if we had just lost another one of our own?' ran through my mind.

**_Alex_ **

Despite Lexi being shy, she was actually really nice and seemed to be the only one giving me a chance down here. I could see the Jake guy really didn't like me and I could not care less about what he thought of me. I found that I cared more about gaining Lexi's trust than I did the others. 

Talon and Kate gave me a few sideways glances but still struck up some conversation, trying to gauge my intentions with them. I had told them how I found the dropship and I promised that I would help them by any means possible to survive out here. 

Talon shook my hand with a small smile on his face whilst the Kate just gave me a nod. I knew that I wasn't going to gain their trust so easily and Lexi could see I was getting frustrated being around people that didn't want me there, so she offered for us to go for a walk.

"I trust you, for what it's worth." She pipes up.

I look at her and give her a soft smile, "That's all I really need. If they don't trust me, I can live with that. At least I have one person that believes that I have no bad intentions. Where did they even get that notion that I wanted to hurt you guys?" I question her and she shrugs.

"I don't know, but I know that Jake seriously has something against you. Did you know him on the ship?" She questions.

"I've honestly never met the guy, and I don't know why he's trying to run me out of the group when he hasn't even spoken a word to me." I tell her sincerely. Whatever his issue with me was, I had no clue. The guy could shove a stick up his ass for all I care.

"That's odd, but I think Talon's warming up to you and despite Kate's cold exterior, she likes you." She tells me.

"A straight face with a nod, does not mean she likes me." I skeptically say to her.

"The fact, she stayed there whilst you talked and even nodded at you means she does." She jokes and I give a small laugh.

We walk into a small jungle area and she tells me more stories of her friends, but never any of herself. I was curious about her and wanted to know more about this mysterious girl. We manage to find ourselves almost on the other side of the island in a clearing, something felt oddly off about the place. 

I turn around for a second and suddenly the ground below Lexi's feet disappears in her next step and I quickly grab onto her wrist as she falls. I look at the pit below her, filled with wooden spikes. Someone had put this here, and it didn't look like it was around before the Big Bang.

I pulled her up and she collapsed beside me. I stood up and pulled her up with me to which she pulled me in for a hug. "Thank you." She sighs out, breathless from the adrenaline rush.

"Anytime." I reply back. "Who the hell could've done that?" I question when she finally releases me.

"That would not have stayed like that for over a hundred years. What if people actually survived it?" She asks me and it suddenly becomes a reality that people may have lived through the explosion. What if they were still around today?

"Come on, let's just head back to the beach and walk our way back to the camp. We can't afford anything like that to happen again." I tell her and help her up.

We hear rustling only to see Jupiter and Kekoa come through the gigantic leaves. "Are you guys alright?" the big guy questions.

"Yeah, I just fell through this man-made trap thing. People must've survived and put this here to catch food." Lexi tells them.

"It's empty. If something had fallen in here and no one was to collect it, the body would still be here. There are still people alive." Jupiter states. I hadn't even thought of it like that, but she was right. We weren't alone and we weren't the last of the human race.

"Come on, let's just get out of this forest, the island is pretty small so if we walk around it we could make it back before dark." I tell them and Jupiter and Kekoa nod in agreement. Lexi takes my hand and I look down at for a quick second before looking up at her, and the look on her face showed how vulnerable she was. We needed to get out of here now before anything else happened.

I pulled her along with the other two trailing behind. We make it to the forest break and embrace the feeling of the sand beneath our boots. I see Lexi take hers off and tie them to her backpack. Jupiter, Kekoa and I follow and make our way down to the seashore. 

The sun was setting slowly and the sky's colours were changing. I finally had a chance to fully appreciate the beauty of it, unlike the days before when we were swimming for our lives. Now we had food and a water source we could most definitely survive.

I looked back at Kekoa and Jupiter seeing her rest her head on his shoulder and laugh at something he said whilst holding his hand, I knew we were going to be fine.

"When did that happen?" I asked Lexi referring to the two behind us.

"They've literally clicked from day one down here and they've gotten to know each other in the 10 days of floating. This is the happiest I've ever seen her. I don't know how she does it, but it's like she was made for Earth." She tells me and I think about how the hell she knew what to do in some of our situations.

"Or maybe she was just good at Earth Skills." I joke and Lexi laughs, bumping her shoulder with mine. Yeah, we were definitely going to be fine.

As the sun set slowly we, I had to do a double take, I thought the island had been longer. There was more land in front of us before, but now it was covered.

"Tides." I finally realise and say out loud.

"What about them?" Lexi questions.

"When the tide comes in, the water is meant to be deeper. Correct?" I say.

"Yeah. Why?" Lexi asks.

"Look over there. Wasn't there more land in front of us an hour ago? I think there was a sandbar connecting to the other bit of land, the tide is coming in now so that sandbar has gone." I point out and catch Jupiter and Kekoa's attention.

"When will it be back again?" Jupiter questions.

"Tomorrow morning, early hours I think. We should get some rest tonight; it's been a long day; we'll check it out tomorrow." Kekoa states and smiles down at her, pressing a kiss to her head. Yeah, something definitely happened there and he had a point, we could check it out tomorrow.


	9. VIII

**_Kate_ **

The others weren't back from their walk and I could see Talon was getting a bit agitated. The sun had almost set and there was no sign of them, so I just left Talon and his stress to go sit on the beach and watch the small waves crash onto the shore.

I heard him asking Jake whether they should be back by now and Jake replied with something snarky about hoping Alex didn't come back with the rest of them.

That was getting a bit too much now, Alex wasn't here to hurt us or anything and Lexi seemed to like him which was a rare thing for her. Jake needed to calm down and see that he was actually okay.

Talon didn't say anything after that so I assumed he had walked away and then I heard the footsteps behind me.

"He just doesn't trust Alex and I honestly don't get it." I hear him say from behind me.

"Yeah well, you could say something to him about it. He listens to you." I suggest simply, now getting sick of this whole, 'no one trusts Alex charade'. The poor guy was just trying to survive out here like the rest of us and from talking to him earlier, I could tell he was just like us in wanting another chance at life.

"Trying to talk him out of something is a mission and a half, but I'll see." He says sitting beside me. "How are you holding up?" He questions.

"Fine. Since when was a concern for me something you took into consideration?" I ask him joking, but I don't see a smile.

"Should I not be concerned?" He says, biting at me. I had no clue where this was coming from.

"I didn't say that Talon. It was a joke, calm down." I tell him sighing.

"I am calm." He snaps out.

"Sure seems like it." I retort, sarcastically.

"Whatever Kate. I was just trying to be nice. Obviously, you didn't get that." He mockingly says to me.

"Seriously Talon, it was a joke. Get over it, there is no need to have made such a big deal out of it." I shout at him, now fed up with how he was being, changing into his old self.

"I'm the one making a big deal out of. Really Kate?" He questions me, raising his own voice causing the tears that I had tried to keep down, spring to my eyes.

"Grow up Talon. I honestly thought you had changed, but I guess you actually don't care. You just feel sorry for me, and you know what, I hate it." I shout at him, tears now streaming down my cheeks.

"Well, you know what Kate, I actually do care. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, because you're not the only one here that lost a brother. I know what it feels like and I hated being by myself when it happened. I'm trying to help. I guess you don't need that because you're a heartless bitch." He shouts back at me and I feel like I can't breathe and my chest caves in when he says that.

What makes it worse is when he leaves me there alone. I then understood what he was talking about, he was the one that kept my mind off Davon and now he was gone too. I truly had never felt this alone in my life.

I put my head in my hand, oblivious to the arriving camp mates and more shouting. I couldn't care less anymore. I felt like I had actually lost everything now Talon was gone.

I sat there for hours, seeing the sun sink behind the sea and the shore start to glow with a blue tinge from what I could guess was something phosphorescent in the water. My tear stains had dried, but I didn't want to be around people right now. I couldn't take their sorry glances or Talon's harsh stare. Only when the shouting stopped and they all had gone to sleep did I finally walk up to our shelter.

I saw Talon, still awake by the fire. I watched him for a second too long, holding his soft gaze before heading to where I had set down my stuff. I knew he just wanted to help, so I couldn't help but feel guilty. Hopefully, we weren't back at square one again because I needed him. I just hoped I hadn't ruined our friendship because I hadn't realised how much I missed being around him.

**_Jake_ **

Ruby watched as Talon and Kate went back to their old ways, both of them at each other's throats. It would probably be both of their faults knowing how they both just wind each other up and it didn't help that she had lost her brother the day before yesterday.

After their fight, Talon made his way up the beach and gave me a warning look when I opened my mouth to say something. He usually would take the joke, but I could tell he was affected by what had just happened between them.

Ruby nudged me, shutting me up and I clamped my mouth shut as he passed me and made his way over to make the fire for the night.

"He likes her, that's a given." I say to her when he's out of earshot.

"He's liked for years, but now they're actually talking again, I think he's falling for her all over again and I guess they're a bit new to actually getting on with each other." She replies back and heads over to her sleeping bag. "They'll be alright." She mumbles as she lies down.

I look over at Talon and see silhouettes of the others that finally came back. Jupiter walked up and tossed me a fruit which I distinctly remember being called a mango. I used the pocket knife I had brought and peeled the yellow skin back, taking a bite of the sweet juicy fruit.

"Turns out we're not the only ones on Earth anymore." Kekoa states, dropping his bag at his feet, letting more mangoes spill out.

I look sharply at them and Ruby sits up, now attentive. "What happened? How do you know?" I look over all of them, noticing Lexi's ripped pant leg and grazes down her arm. I pointedly looked at Alex because I was pretty sure he did that to her.

"I fell into this manmade hole with spikes at the bottom of it." Lexi tells me.

"You mean he pushed you into it?" I accuse Alex, nodding my head in his direction.

"I'm sorry?" He says, sizing me up. "I was the one that held onto her as she fell and pulled her out of the damn hole." He yells at me, walking closer. Lexi grips onto his arm and keeps him back.

"What the hell Jake, he saved my life. You need to stop with this bullshit. Alex is not going to hurt us; he wouldn't hurt me." Lexi tells me, but I don't know if I believe her. He could've threatened her if she didn't tell us that.

"Did you see him pull her up?" I ask Jupiter and she gives me a small shake of her head, then who could tell what he actually did to her.

"Listen, Jake, that isn't the point of this. People survived the apocalypse, there are people living on this island. We aren't alone." Jupiter tells me rolling her eyes.

"How?" Ruby asks and I keep glaring at Alex, not really letting the information sink in. They weren't the threat right now, he was and I wasn't going to let him hurt anyone else.

"I have no clue, but tomorrow we'll be checking out a sandbar on the other side of the island and see where it gets us." Kekoa states taking his and Jupiter's bags and laying them down under a section of the shelter made for them.

"Who's we?" I ask.

"Well Jupiter and I are going, Alex, Lexi."  He says and they both give him a nod. I shake my head. He notices, "What, you guys want to come too?"

"You're going with him. I wouldn't trust Jupiter or Lexi with him. I'd rather he stays here with us so that Talon and I can keep an eye on him." I tell them, seeing his eyes narrow at my accusation.

"I've had it with you. I have no clue as to what I've done that you hate me so much. I'm not here to hurt anyone and sure as hell would not hurt the one person that I trust. If staying here is the only way you get to trust me then I'll stay, and you can keep a watchful eye on me or whatever. You guys have fun." He bites at me, shaking his head. He walks away and Lexi calls after him, giving me one hell of a glare before following after him.

I didn't understand why she would trust or like him so easily, the girl barely liked me, if even and I had known her for years.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Ruby but she just shook her head with a disappointed look and rolled over, turning her back to me.

She would understand the day he shows his true colours; the ones I could already see. He would slip up soon and they would see the real him.


	10. IX

**_Kekoa_ **

I woke Jupiter up in the early morning hours, nudging her awake, knowing that to get over the sandbar, we'd have to cross now otherwise the tide would come up. She mumbled something incoherent and held onto me pulling me closer to her. I smiled down at the gorgeous girl which I now had my arm wrapped around.

I whispered her name into her ear, brushing my lips against them. I could see a small smile and knew she was finally waking up. I kissed further down her jaw, pressing one last kiss on her lips before her eyes fluttered open, a wide smile breaking out. She was beautiful.

I had never felt this way for anyone before and she had just swept me off my feet. Was it too soon to say I was falling in love already? She just fit with me, she was the one that I knew I needed in my life. I had never believed in soul mates, but I couldn't help but think that she could be mine.

Looking into her eyes and seeing her smile told me we could survive anything. With or without the others and their politics, we could make it. I kissed her one last time before moving off her shoulder and pulling her up. I packed my bag in the dark, feeling for what I thought we would need. We grabbed a couple of mangoes for food and with our canteens full from yesterday, we headed off the top of the island.

Getting there, I could see the shallow water which I guessed was receding by the second. If we started walking now, it would be solid ground soon enough and we hopefully would be around half way in that time to which we would have to make our way to the other half with the water level rising and the sandbar sinking.

We set off on our perilous journey, struggling through the shallow water. As the hours went on, I found it getting a lot easier to walk and see the sand below our feet. Seeing the land in the distance getting closer was a push further to get there in time. We didn't stop for food but had occasional water stops to catch our breath.

We had reached what I thought was halfway an hour ago and I cut into a mango as I walked and passed a slither to Jupiter. We were making good time and I could see the sun was starting to rise. I assumed it was around six in the morning and we had reached almost full low tide. I was running on the assumption that the tides changed every twelve hours and if that was the case then just past midday would be high tide. I just hoped we didn't take that long and with the pace we were going, we were going to be fine.

She gave me shy smiles when our hands brushed and kept trying to tuck a stubborn strand of hair behind her ear. The sandbar was starting to recede and it had started to rain so the sand was a bit harder to walk through and everything was going well. 

That was until her foot slipped down the sandbank and she slipped into the water.

Under the surface, I saw a flash of movement and suddenly the water was stained red. I grabbed her hand and pulled her up onto the sand, trying to find where the blood was coming from finally seeing the slim tear in her shirt. Something had ripped right through it and slashed across her stomach. She was writhing in pain, but the cut wasn't that bad or deep. "Jupiter." I say to her, trying to get her to focus on me. "Jupiter" I repeat, "What's wrong? Speak to me." I say to her and she squeezes her eyes shut.

"It burns; it burns so much. Make it stop, please." She tells me and I look back at the wound which had now gone an angry red colour and was swelling up the whole area. Whatever had cut her also had some sort of poison or toxin that did this. I picked her up and she buried her face in the crook of my neck, holding onto me.

Soon the pain had become too much for her and she passed out. I was running across the sandbar drenched from the rain with two bags, there wasn't a lack of time but I needed to find something that could help her and there was nothing out here. 

In the back of my mind, I was hoping we would find people here but I knew that it would only be a slim chance. I looked down at Jupiter in my arms and clutched her closer, I was going to save her if it was the last thing I did.

**_Alex_ **

Put simply, Jake was an asshole. His girlfriend kept giving me apologetic looks whenever he made a snide comment. I had at least made friends with Lexi and Talon and Kate seemed to be cool yesterday. 

However, Kate and Talon weren't talking at the moment and I could see it was slightly awkward between them. I knew I had the trust of Kekoa and Jupiter from talking to them as well, but they seemed to be on their own mission which I was meant to be on too, but rather was left at this miserable camp instead.

So here I was left with a fighting couple or whatever they were, a douche and his girlfriend who seemed pretty nice but was too afraid to talk to me and a girl I knew nothing about but trusted with my life.

Lexi slept near me around the fire pit area, under the stars. I awoke to grey clouds covering the blue sky and a sleeping Lexi on the opposite side of the fire. I heard crunching and a tired looking Talon walk my way, "Sleep well bro?" He questioned me, to which I was taken by surprise by him calling me 'bro'.

"As well as could be expected." I send him a tired smile and set my eyes on the sleeping Lexi again.

"She likes you and trusts you, which is super strange." He takes a seat on the fallen tree trunk we had pulled.

"People keep saying that, but she's really nice to me. What was she like up there?" I say looking up in the sky.

"Quiet, never trusted anyone unless she knew you like the back of her hand. Even still, she never liked Jake and she's known him for years. You must've poured your heart out to her." He jokes and I give a small laugh.

"Nah, I just told her about my family on the ship." I say to him.

He nods and then asks, "So what is your story then, Stowaway? All I really know is how you got to the ship." I laugh at his nickname for me and start telling him about my brother and his wife, giving them the option if they wanted to stay or come with me.

"So you would've been a family of stowaways." He says giving a small laugh but then continues on, serious, "I'm sorry that you had to leave your brother behind, losing family hurts." He tells me and I look up at him.

"You lose anyone?" I ask him.

"I lost my brother a few years back and left my father behind on The Ship. He stopped caring about me when my little brother died so I couldn't bring myself to ask him to come with." He says and I understood where he was coming from, despite not being in that situation.

"What about Jake and Ruby? What's their story?" I question him and he gives me a smirk.

"Well Jake for some reason hates your guts, and I don't know if you knew each other on The Ship or not but he seriously has something against trusting you. He's been dating Ruby for years now, but his parents don't approve of her since she's from a poorer part of Metagon." He says.

I interrupt by asking him, disbelieving, "There's such a thing as a poor part of Metagon?"

He laughs and replies, "It's those in the smaller accommodation, I know it makes us sound narcissistic but it was genuinely a thing in our section of the ship. I really didn't see the difference in all honesty. Anyways, Jake left his parents behind because they don't like Ruby. Ruby only had her mother, but she was too weak to leave with us and told her to go alone." He finishes.

"Poor girl, she seems really nice," I tell him, sincerely and he gives me a smile.

"I like you Alex, I don't get what Jake sees, but I think you're alright. Just look after Lexi alright, she'd been through a lot when she was on The Ship and I'm sure she'll tell you all about it when she's ready." He pats my shoulder as he passes me to go and get some food.

I nod and look back up at the sky, feeling the first droplet hit my forehead. The rain was something that I had never experienced before, so I let a couple drops hit me before nudging Lexi, waking her up so we could go to the shelter to stay dry.

She smiles at me and sends me a groggy morning as she opens her eyes, seeing me. "Come on sleepy head, it's going to start raining and you don't want your stuff getting wet." She follows me up, pulling the leftover bits of wood with us so we could have a fire under the sheltered area to keep warm as I had felt the temperature dropping.

Setting down, she huddles near me and I see Talon giving a small smile and patting the place next to him at Kate, who falters slightly but gives a small smile back and moves over to where he is. 

They would figure it out soon enough, she needed him and she kept him calm, they needed each other. I look over at Lexi and she gives me a soft smile and figured, I needed her too. She was the only reason why I was still here and why some of them were starting to trust me, she had kept me alive. 


	11. X

**_Jupiter_ **

I remembered a hazy shadow figure. It wasn't Kekoa, it was someone with a light halo of blonde hair around them. I shut my eyes and opened them again not being able to focus on the person. Kekoa was shouting something and I gripped onto him harder as another wave of pain ran through me.

The shouting subsided and it was quiet. Or what I thought it might've been. I felt Kekoa's chest rumbling as if he was saying something but the feeling dissipated as a fresh burning sensation ran across my whole body and I screamed.

I couldn't take it much longer, I needed it to stop. My body curled up and I felt the strong arms I was in, pull me in further. The pain then came back and it was too much as blackness enveloped me, yet again.

My hand was being squeezed but it wasn't too tight. My eyelids felt heavy and I didn't think I could open them but through a slither I could see a cream canvas above my head with shadows of leaves from the trees above. I was confused as to where on earth I was and what had happened.

I looked at the person holding my hand, seeing it was Kekoa. I squeezed his hand and he shook himself awake at the pressure change.

"Jupiter." He breathes out my name, "Please never do that again." He whispered as he moved closer to me in the excitement that I was finally awake.

"I wasn't planning on it." I say as he rests his forehead against mine and breathes out a small laugh.

"You scared the hell out me." He tells me and gives me a soft kiss. I smile into the kiss; he was my slice of perfection in this messed up world.

Just in that second, I heard someone yell something outside the tent that I was in. I gave Kekoa a confused look and attempted to get up but the movement sent a jolt of pain through my stomach and down my legs.

Kekoa made an objecting sound when I used his arm to pull myself up but I gave him a look and continued to slide my legs off the side of the makeshift bed that I was on. I needed to see outside; to see what we had discovered, who we had discovered.

Kekoa helped me along and gave me a soft smile. "Don't worry, they're nice. They saved you." He tells me and squeezes my side softly.

He opens the tent flap and I'm hit with the bright light and beautiful green colours of trees in the surrounding area. I could hear the sea in the distance and the people that bustled through the small town, they looked amazing and I immediately wanted to know more about them.

It was weird because I felt as if I belonged here yet I had no clue as to where I was. This place felt like home, like it was where I was meant to be. I looked up at Kekoa in awe and he gave me a bright smile.

A few people gave us some sideways looks but most just sent a small smile our way. A woman walked in our direction with a bright smile followed by someone I could only guess was her daughter.

"Kekoa." She greeted.

"Leda." He greeted back.

"Please, call me Abby. I am the leader of the Sea Clan; my people call me Leda. This is Clarke and you must be Jupiter?" She questioned looking behind Kekoa at me.

I nod blankly, just realising that these people were speaking English. I could tell it wasn't their first language but being from outer space and coming down to Earth after 100 years, expecting to be alone and finding people that still spoke your language was surprising.

"Nice to meet you both." I greet after managing to find my words and wince as I move off Kekoa's shoulder to come more into view.

"You're very strong Jupiter. Some of our greatest warriors were lost to the creature that struck you called the Needle and with a wound that size, I was very surprised by your strength." Clarke says.

"Thank you." I say, but it comes out more like a question. Kekoa looks down at me and adjusts so I can lean more on him.

"You should go back and rest, it won't heal quickly if you're up and walking." Abby tells me.

"Thank you for all you've done." I say to them and they both nod with a smile. Kekoa helps me back into the tent and onto the makeshift bed and sits beside me on the other cot.

"This place is amazing." I breathe out once I've laid down.

"I love it here already." He tells me and smiles at me.

"Is it weird to think that I feel like this place was the place that I was meant to be. The Ship was never home; I didn't ever fit in anywhere and nothing good came out of living there. But then Earth, I just feel like it's right here." I tell him, looking at the blank canvas above me, making out the outline of the shadow of the trees above.

"Like you're right where you're meant to be?" He questions.

"Yeah." I say and return a soft smile.

"We've got to tell the others about this place. Where they are, isn't safe." He tells me and shakes his head with a worried look.

"How come? The people here aren't dangerous." I state.

"The people here might be fine, but Abby said that the people living on that island are outcasts. She said they have cannibalistic tendencies and live off aggression and violence." He says and the sheer force of what he just said hits me. We had to get them off the island, who knows what could happen to them in the time that we've been gone.

"We have to go now. They must have boats or something that we can cross with?" I exclaim, trying to get up but Kekoa pushes me back down.

"Abby says I will be going out tomorrow. It's too late now with the tides and she wants me with them so we'll take a boat across. You need to stay here and rest, Clarke is super eager to get to know you and I'm sure that you've got loads of questions for her too." He tells me calmly with a smile as I settle down.

"Fine" I roll my eyes stubbornly and continue on," and yeah, this whole place is just one massive question mark." I tell him, giving in because I knew I wasn't going to win that fight.

Kekoa stayed with me for a while longer until Clarke came in to look at the slash across my stomach and change the bandages that had some type of herb soaked into them which made the burning subside. There was some commotion outside and Kekoa gave me a quick kiss and went to see what it was.

Clarke had a bright smile on her face and kept looking outside as if waiting for someone to come through. She noticed me watching and shook her head, "Sorry, I'm just waiting for my partner to come. He's been checking in with one of his clans." She tells me casually.

"One of? So, he runs more than one?" I ask her.

"Yeah, kind of. A while back we had a massive war between all the clans and Bellamy basically fixed it all." She tells me and looks back as a voice speaking in their language comes close to our tent.

"I can't take all the credit; I couldn't have done it without Clarke." I hear a voice coming from behind the tent flap and a handsome man comes through with ink-black curls and dark brown eyes. He comes up beside Clarke and presses a kiss to her forehead.

He then sticks out his hand and introduces himself, "Bellamy Blake, leader of the Forest Clan and the Rebel King, leader of the previous known Rebel Clan." I shake his hand and I see Clarke shake her head with a smirk on her face.

"Modesty isn't his strongest point." She says quiet, but loud enough for Bellamy to hear. He gives her a smirk and they have some silent communication between them for a few seconds before he gives her a quick kiss and tells her something in their language and leaves, giving me a quick wave.

"You guys seem very happy." I state, giving Clarke a smile.

"After all we've been through, we needed a little bit of happiness in our lives. He was my breath of life in a dark time and together we brought peace and love to so many others." She smiles to herself and then leans in close, "Can I tell you a secret? Bellamy doesn't even know, but I really want to tell someone and I have a feeling that I can trust you." I nod and give her a soft smile. "Bellamy is going to be a dad." She tells me and it takes me a second and for her to put her hands on her stomach to know what was going on.

"Clarke, congratulations!" I exclaim as if we've been friends for years and know all she's been through. "I promise I won't say anything to anyone." I assure her.

"I know you won't, I know I can trust you." She says giving me a broad smile. "What about you and Kekoa? You two seem very happy, how long have you been together?" She asks and I can't help but smile to myself.

"We're not really together in a sense, but I do really like him. I only met him two weeks ago when we came down. I was stuck in the ship while it was filling up with water and he managed to just calm me down and help me out, even though he didn't even know me." I tell her and she gives a short laugh.

"You two have a special bond, like Bellamy and I. You're meant to be, like soulmates." She tells me taking my hand and contemplating something. "Tell me about space, what is it like up there?" She asks.

After thinking about how describe it, I answer "Scary." She gives me a confused look and I continue, "Imagine a black vastness with tiny white dots scattering the sky. Then imagine yourself being surrounded by the never-ending darkness, nowhere to go." I tell her.

"You didn't belong up there." She states and it takes me by surprise. "You were meant for Earth. I feel like you were meant to be down here and you were meant to have trained and become something great. Greater than any of us." I keep watching her, finally feeling a long-lost spark that I only remember feeling when my mother told me stories of Earth.

I never belonged up in space. I hated it there, it was only when I reached Earth did the pieces finally settle into place. I was meant for here and if Clarke was telling me this, then I knew it must be true. I was going to become one with Earth, I was home.

**_Kate_ **

Waking up, I felt empty, like everything had just gone wrong. I wanted to blame Talon for all of it, but it wasn't his fault. He was just trying to help and I just pushed him away, I pushed away the only person I felt like I had left.

After Davon had died, he was the one there to help pick up the pieces and now I feel like I'm falling apart. I shut my eyes and squeeze the tears that threaten to surface, away. Maybe today would be better, but a small part of me thought it could just get worse.

I rolled onto my back and noticed the approaching grey clouds which threatened to burst and chuck the heavens down. I pulled our backpacks under a shelter of leaves which would hopefully keep them dry.

Alex was helping Talon pull a log under the trees and then shook Lexi awake to get her to move her stuff into the shaded area. Talon had seated himself on the ground, leaning on the log that they had just pulled over and as we had done last night, looked at each other at just the right time.

I held his gaze which turned into a small smile and he tapped the place next to him. I didn't really understand why he would do that; Talon was never one to just move on so easily but I took the opportunity to get back the one person I knew could help me. I needed him, I felt like in the short space of time we had been here, I depended on him to keep me sane.

As I approached he held his hand out and I readily took it, not knowing what he was going to do, but he just pulled me down next to him and tucked me under his arm, next to his chest. I wrapped my arm around him a leaned onto his chest.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. I shifted to see his face, but he was just looking straight out to the sea. "It wasn't right of me to lose it so easily."

I looked out at the waves crashing and sighed, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said what I did. I need you Talon, you're the only one that's been there to help and I know that we've always fought but now you're actually okay to be around. I feel like you're the only one that isn't giving me sympathetic looks left, right and center which makes this ten times worse."

He pauses for a second, "I'm only okay to be around?" he questions with a small smile breaking out.

"Slightly better than average." I joke and he looks down at me with a grin which then softens into a smile. We were going to be alright as long as we were together.


	12. XI

**_Jake_ **

I wasn't having any of it today, the storm rolled in and we all had to huddle under the trees close together, which meant being in close proximity to Alex. By the time it rained out, I was vibrating with anger and as soon as I could, I walked off not listening to the whoever was yelling at me.

I needed some space away from that untrustworthy rat and a walk in the jungle seemed like a good idea at the time. That was until I heard the first branch snap in front of me, then there was another rustle to the side and a twig breaking behind me. There was something out here with me, the first person that came to mind was Alex but I had no sure reasoning as to why he would be out here with me unless he wanted to kill me.

I was focused on trying to find more reasoning as to why that bastard would try and mess around like this that I almost missed the arrow that whizzed past my head. I turned just in time to see a mangy creature, which may have been human at one point but with the scars and dried blood, mixed with dirt and mud all over itself, it looked far from human.

Quickly it flashed a set of razor-sharp teeth at me and then jumped back into the bushes. There was more rustling around me and I didn't have time to process the person I had just seen as another clambered down a tree and a branch snapped behind me that I knew I was surrounded by them.

I had nowhere to go and terror seized my limbs to not make any movement in the hopes that if I didn't pose a threat, they wouldn't touch me. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case as the one in front of me lunged towards me, teeth first, trying to grip my arm. I moved back just in time for the creature to fall on all fours and crawl towards me.

Suddenly I'm grasped from behind in a headlock and I can't breathe. The creature watches in amusement at my struggle and slowly slithers towards me, joined by two others.

Just when I think my life might be over and darkness clouds my vision as a set of razor teeth make its way towards my face, I feel the grip of the thing behind me loosen and finally let me go as a gargled scream makes its way out of its mouth. The leading creature looks at me in confusion as its accomplice drops. I hear the person behind me yell to run and see a blur of two people with blonde hair as I turn and try and catch my breath. I make it a few paces before the leading creature is on top of me.

I turn and face him and swing and kicking blindly trying to make contact with anything, finding flesh. It rolls off me squealing and crouches low, ready to come at me. I get up and take a few steps back, waiting for it to pounce again.

Suddenly someone steps in front of me, holding a flame torch. The thing backs away, terrorised by the sight in front of it. The person holding it turns and I see it's Alex, he chucks me a piece of dry wood and lights it with his own. He takes one look at me, shaking his head and walks off, not expecting me to say anything. 

I look across the clearing at the other light, held by Talon. He gives me a disappointed look for some reason and turns, following Alex. Suddenly, the only thing I could think of was how Alex thinks he could come here and turn my friends against me. I shake my head, angry at the blonde bastard and follow after Talon.

Coming back to the camp, I could see Alex already set apart from the rest of the group sitting alone by the fire. Right where he belonged. He was an outcast and had no right to be with us. That was until Lexi sat right beside him and was joined by Talon pulling along a smiling Kate.

Ruby catches me glaring at him and shakes her head and heads over to the rest of the group. Was she on his side too? Was I going to lose my girlfriend as well as my friends?

**_Alex_ **

I smiled up at Ruby when she came to join us with tired eyes. Jake was still being as stubborn as possible and I knew it was difficult for Ruby being on both sides of the argument. "Thank you for what you both did today." She says to Talon and me.

She looks back at him, stubbornly sitting by the fire closer to the tent.  "Alex, he may never say it. So, on behalf of him, thanks." I give a slight nod, keeping watch of the fire. I try to make myself believe that maybe Jake would do the same for me in that situation.

Lexi shuffles a bit closer puts her head on my shoulder and hugs my arm. I find myself resting my cheek on her head, watching the embers float up to join the stars.

Hours later when I find myself on watch with Lexi's head on my lap, stroking through her ink black tresses. I hear her mumble something and make a sudden jerk movement. I almost wake her up but it stops for a few seconds. Suddenly she shouts out and I shake her awake before she wakes the rest of the camp.

She looks up at me with glossy eyes and I immediately take her into my arms as she quietly sobs. After a few minutes, she pushes back and wipes her eyes, looking apologetic. After a second I tell her, "It's okay, it was only a nightmare."

She stays quiet for what seems to be an eternity and she looks like she wants to run away. Instead, she takes a breath and tucks herself against my side. I put my arm around her as she rests her head on my chest and looks up at the stars. "Back on The Ship, all I had left was my dad. My mom died after someone beat her to death because they didn't get what they wanted. My dad had to look after me and let's just say he had anger management issues and he would take it out on me. He was pretty much like a light switch, one second he was fine and the next moment I had a fist heading for my ribs." She pauses as if remembering the feeling, I lightly brush my fingers down her side ushering her to continue and forget the feeling.

A small smile forms as she carries on, "He was a disgusting human, but he was my dad. The nightmares remind me of what he's done in the past and that even though there may have a been a bad side to him, there was a very small good side and I left him up there to die. I didn't tell him where I was going because he had just had one of his episodes and I was hurt and angry so I just left." She adjusts so she can slightly look at me, "Now I can't help but feel bad, what if he could've changed while we were down here?"

"Lexi, people don't change that easily. I know you wish he could because he's your dad, but it's just not that easy. If he came down, he would just continue to hurt you, over and over again. I'm also going to take a shot in the dark but I'm guessing he was the one that killed your mom?" The look on her face tells him everything and he nods and says nothing else.

She rests her head back on my chest and stares back at the stars, "Tell me about your mom?" I question, hoping this will be a lighter topic.

"She was the most amazing woman. She was never put down by my dad and protected me at all costs. She used to always sing to me when I couldn't sleep or had nightmares and she would read stories, like those cliché fairy tales." She tells me.

"The best kind." I comment, getting a small laugh out of her.

"I always wished I could have my happy ending, and now on Earth, I think I might just." She comments, curling up closer.

I stay quiet for a second and then start, "Once upon a time, there was this girl who lived a life of terror and hurt being held captive on a pirate ship. She finally found freedom and left her kingdom to the land of Earth. There with her friends who left the ship with her, she discovered a beauty of green and blue and herself became a beautiful flower which bloomed."

"What about her prince?" She mumbles in her half asleep state.

"He wasn't a prince. He was a thief that stole from the bad and gave to the poor and some of her friends didn't like him because they didn't understand that he wasn't going to hurt them. But the princess trusted him and that was more than enough for him."

"And they lived happily ever after." She whispers and falls asleep

"And they lived happily ever after." I told the wind, as my princess slept beside me.


	13. XII

**_Kekoa_ **

It was a rush to pack all I needed to go back to the island. We would be taking a boat over this morning and help them across during the early hours the next morning. Abby said that she wanted some time on the island to check on the cannibals and potentially talk to their leader to come to some sort of truce.

"They're the only clan not in peace with us. Bellamy has managed to find a way to get all the clans to unite finally. But the flesh eaters are not reasonable as instead of going forward with their evolution, they have gone back to more primitive ways of living." She tells me and I try to make sense of it.

"Can I ask, how do you plan on trying to create peace with them?" I question Abby.

"I don't, I'm going to kill them. All they've done is wreak havoc upon us and cause so many deaths previously. We've given them the opportunity to have peace but they've not taken it and you coming here has presented us the perfect opportunity to be able to go to the island. Now we have reasoning to kill them as protection for your friends, our new allies. It's been all political with what to do with the flesh eaters, in recent years. Some think they pose no threat, but they essentially do while your friends are on that island and I have no doubt they're going to try and attack." Abby explains to me and I understand from her leading point of view.

These people of Earth were the kind of people I knew I could live with, they had been through the wars, lived a rough life yet they were so kind and giving. With what Abby was doing for us, saving people she didn't know and calling us their allies, ensuring our safety with the other clans as well.

I pulled my bag onto my back and walked into the medical tent where I found Clarke and Bellamy already chatting to Jupiter. I assumed Bellamy would be coming with as he had his bag at his feet. "Hey." Jupiter says softly, pushing herself up and earning a disapproving look from Clarke.

"Hey, we're heading out soon." I say and Bellamy nods and slings his bag onto his back taking Clarke's hand.

"I'll see you out there." He says to me and leaves the tent.

"Look Kekoa, I know we've not known each other for a long time, but I need you to be careful. Okay?" Jupiter tells me once they've left.

"I promise, I'll be fine and Abby's got some of her best warriors going." I told her sitting on the chair next to her cot and take her hand. "Plus when we come back, Bellamy said he's going to train me up." She gives a small laugh.

"Just make sure you come back alive and in one piece please." She tells me and squeezes my hand. Bellamy pops his head through the tent entrance and calls me out.

"See you later." I squeeze her hand and kiss her forehead.

I follow the group, heading out to the beach where we would take a boat to the island of terror. Hopefully, I would be able to keep my promise to Jupiter and see her again as I wasn't sure what was waiting for us on the other side of the channel between us and the flesh eaters. I just hoped our group was still okay.

**_Kate_ **

Lexi and Alex seemed a lot closer this morning than they were yesterday, I was hoping she would finally tell him about her dad and I believe she may have. She deserved a lot more than what she had back on The Ship and regardless of what Jake says, I knew Alex was a good guy. He wouldn't have saved Jake if he wasn't. I've seen a side of Jake that makes me think he wouldn't do the same for Alex.

I was just happy that Lexi finally had someone she could depend on. She took ages to open up to us but with Alex, it was as if they were two magnets. I just wished Jake could see that too so we wouldn't have to hear him complain about everything Alex did. He was good for Lexi, but I think the fact that Lexi warmed up quicker to Alex than she ever has to Jake made him jealous.

Talon pulled me up and tugged me down to the sea. He kept holding my hand as we stepped into the incoming small wave. I felt like a such a girl, blushing at the small sign of affection as he squeezed my hand and smiled sideways at me. I let go but wrapped my arm around him, I wanted to be close to him. He pulled me in so I was tucked into his chest.

"What do you think's going to happen? We can't stay here forever, should we risk following Kekoa and Jupiter over the sandbar." I ask him, breaking the silence.

"I think we should in all honesty, it's too dangerous here in this enclosed area with those creatures. They would've killed Jake; you should've seen them, they looked like they wanted to eat him. Their teeth were razor sharp and they kept coming at us, trying to bite us." He tells me, his chest rumbling as he speaks.

"Just to think, they may have been human once. Now they've lost that, what if they're all like that? What if there are no actual people like us left on this planet?" I question out loud.

"If so, we'll just have to keep on fighting. We've lasted this long, I think we deserve to live a little bit longer." He tells me and I look up at him, turning and breaking his hold.

"If we die, I just want to say I'm sorry for all the times we've argued. I used to think I hated you, I was just heartbroken. I lost my best friend, the guy I fell in love with. And I know that sounds stupid because we were fifteen at the time but..." He cuts me up, pressing his lips to mine. Desperate and searching for something.

"I'm sorry too." He whispers breaking the kiss, I immediately take his lips and wrap my arms around him pulling myself closer.

"I love you Talon." I give a small breathy laugh.

"I love you too." He tells me, a smile playing on his lips and presses his lips to mine once more. I never wanted to let him go again.


	14. XIII

  
**_Jupiter_ **

I woke up with the dull pain in my abdomen. As I stirred, Clarke looked up at me from what seemed to be a sketch of something. "Afternoon." She smiles up at me, placing the sketch down. I see it's of Bellamy standing as a warrior, tribal paint streaking down his face. A mask of strength.

I shift to sit up, ignoring the warning look on Clarke's face. I felt drastically better after a day of rest. I was ready to go exploring the world I knew nothing about but loved so much. "Please can we just go look around." She raises her eyebrows at my request. "I won't kill myself and if it hurts too much I'll tell you and we can stop." She keeps looking at me for a few seconds but she finally reluctantly nods.

I slide off the bed, already feeling the excitement flood my body and slowly make my way to the canvas flap. Clarke walks beside me as I take the view and people in. They look at me with curiosity etched on their faces. "They want to know more about you. You're from the sky, like a fallen angel. You're something completely new to them, so just be patient. Once they know you, they'll be fine. You're one of us, alright?" She tells me and I nod, giving her a small smile.

She leads me outside of the bustle of the camp down towards a river. She sits on a rock and fills her canteen, offering it up to me. "Tell me more about space and your vessel. How did your people get up there?" She asks as I sit.

"Years ago, when the people first heard about 'the big bang', thousands of people from countries all over the world were launched into space. The vessels that were launched in each country congregated and merged to form 'The Ship'. We were on our third generation and with the limited population control, there were too many of us. They were considering putting in an age limit and a limit on the number of children, but it was already too late. For the number of people on The Ship, there was only one month of oxygen left. My group of friends, we all had nothing left up there so when we found a dropship, we took the opportunity to come down here and risk seeing if it was okay to live here or not." I explain to her.

"What do you mean you had nothing to live for, didn't you have a family?" She questions.

"My dad was never there from since I was born and my mom never told me who she was before she died. I had no one, but the people I came down with." I say, smiling sadly.

"Well here, you now have a family with us. There are hundreds of people who are wanting to know you and I'm sure they'd gladly accept you, hearing your story." She tells me, putting her hand over mine.

"Thanks Clarke. What about you guys, how did you all manage to survive the blowout?" I ask her.

"Underground bunkers. Tens of thousands of people were stored underground, safe from the radiation through vacuumed tunnels and years of rations. Each year they would send one brave person out to test how bad it was and for tens of years, it was never safe. Finally, one year when one person returned with no harm done, they were all let out. There was still some radiation in the air, but it didn't kill them, it made them stronger." She says, watching the water flow out in front of her.

"I wish I was there to see it all." I say, thinking out loud.

"I wish I could see space." She says, laughing.

"Don't waste a wish on that, it gets boring after a while." I joke, smiling. "How long are you along?" I ask referring her baby bump, seeing the slight swell in her tummy.

"Three months, so I'm in the clear. But I'm still a bit worried." She tells me.

"When are you going to tell Bellamy?" I question.

She sighs and leans back on her hands, "He's just so busy now and I don't want to stop him going out and doing what he enjoys just so he stays at home and looks after me. I know what he's like, he's overprotective and won't let me out the house." She laughs but is serious.

"He just loves you." I tell her and she gives me a smile.

"Just like you and Kekoa." She gives me a knowing smile and I blush.

"I don't love him; I just like him. A lot." I say, giving a small laugh.

"Give it a few months, you'll know." She tells me.

"Know what?" I ask.

"Whether you love him." She tells me simply and stands up, holding out a hand and pulling me up. "Let's get some tea leaves. Morning sickness is not something I enjoy." She jokes.

We walk to this embankment where we have to slide down, Clarke pointing the leaves in the distance. I manage, walking the few paces and pick them. I suddenly hear a scream and turn just in time to see Clarke hit her head on a rock and start seizing.

**_Jake_ **

"Jake, what is your issue with him." I hear Ruby say from behind me as I was collecting some wood. "He's saved your life and you still can't let your suspicions go. I've had it with your immaturity, enough is enough. Alex has been a great help around here, and had he not been there you would've died. A few days ago, if he wasn't there, Lexi would've died as well." She says and I roll my eyes.

She saw I wasn't going to respond so she turned and left back to the beach, huffing. She was on his side now and that was possibly the last straw.

I was sick of them not seeing what kind of person Alex was. I just needed him to do something so they would see him; the real him. He was hiding something, or he was lying. I lifted the bunch of sticks.

Suddenly he and Lexi push through the bush, Lexi looks awkwardly between us. Alex just rolls his eyes. "Speak of the devil." I muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What is your issue with him!" Lexi bursts out suddenly.

"Lexi just leave it," I hear Alex mutter, "it's his problem." 

"No, you're my problem. I don't trust you for the life of me, I think you're hiding something." I finally break after days of trying to hold it in. I size him up and push his shoulder, not getting any reaction out of him.

"Jake! Stop!" Lexi yells and tries to pull me back but I shrug her off.

"You were never supposed to be on that dropship, you've come down here and ruined everything for us. It was only meant to be us, not you. You've managed to break apart our group, taking away each person bit, by bit. First, it was Lexi, then Talon and Ruby." I yell at him, letting my anger speak for me.

"I don't think I was the one to break apart your group Jake. Have you had a look at yourself recently?" At that I finally snapped and lunged at him, connecting my fist with his jaw.

"I've never wanted anything but to protect my friends. You're a threat to us and you're better off dead." I say as I pull my knife out my back pocket, seeing his eyes go wide. One of the girls scream and feel one of them pulling back at me. I push whoever it was back, sending them to the ground.

"Think about what you're doing Jake." He tells me and I know, I've thought about killing him more than once. Once he's gone, everything will go back to normal.

I lunge at him again, this time with a knife in my hand. I was going to end him once and for all. I managed to nick his rib cage and he grunts in pain as he dodges the next stab. I then catch him off guard and tackle him to the ground, feeling the knife slip out of my hand. I didn't need it anyways; I could just strangle him.

I felt a fist then connect with my stomach winding me and another fly towards my face. I wrestled against him but finally caught him, holding him still. I looked down at him and punched at his face, seeing red. I managed to get my hands around his neck, squeezing, seeing his face go purple at the lack of oxygen. It was almost over; I was almost done.

Suddenly hands pulled at my torso and I swung a fist at whoever was trying to pull me off my mission. I connected with flesh and saw Talon retaliate the swing, throwing me off guard. "You're on his side too." I say and see him give me a confused look.

"There are no sides Jake. The only way we could survive is if we worked together. Alex has helped us." He tells me and it all sounds like lies. He was meant to be my best friend and he's left me.

"You're a traitor." I say to him and spit out blood near his feet. He was nothing to me now.

"Jake-" he starts saying, but I've had enough. He had made up his mind if he was going to continue fighting for Alex, he could go too.

I tackle him to the floor, finding soft tissue to punch at. He fights back, trying to push me off but my hand finds a find a heavy stick from the wood pile that I collected and I start hitting him with it. I hit him once to try beat out all the evil from him, I hit him a second time for leaving me for Alex. We were meant to be best friends.

Suddenly there's a sharp pain in my back and I feel I can't move as I stand up. The pain blossoms all the way around my back, down my arms and legs and makes my head throb. I turn around slowly and see Alex, blood covered Alex, standing there with a bloody knife in his hand. It takes me a second to register where the blood is from and then remember the sharp pain in my back causing the dull pain around my body.

I then saw the girl of my dreams, with a look of relief on her face and I couldn't breathe. For a moment, I didn't know why she looked relieved. But then it hit me, it was relief that I was dying, relief that the fighting was over. She felt safe now.

She looked too scared to approach me and I tried to say her name, but all I do was taste the iron of blood in my mouth as I coughed it up. Alex took a step towards me as I fell, suddenly too weak to hold my own weight.

I closed my eyes for a second and could see myself floating in space. I tried to take a breath but nothing would allow me to. 'There's no oxygen in space' a small voice in the back of my head tells me, but I open my eyes to see the green canopy above me and know I'm on Earth. The oxygen just doesn't come.

I looked up at Alex who had knelt by me, laying me down softly. He had tears in his eyes and was muttering the same words over and over again. It took me a second, but I realised those words were 'I'm sorry'. That's when I knew I was wrong. My killer was right; my killer was a good person. I was not, I was a monster. I hurt those I loved, I broke the group.

With that realisation, I knew that Ruby would be safe. They all would as long as they stuck together. I knew I was dying and it was my time to go and I felt at peace.

They say that your life flashes before your eyes in your last seconds, all I can say is that's a lie. I died with the final thought, 'it's all my fault.' I closed my eyes slowly, seeing a bright light and an angel approach me lifting her hand to caress my cheek. She called herself Ruby.


	15. XIV

  
**_Kekoa_ **

I stood on the slow-moving boat, approaching the island where my 'family' was potentially in danger. I liked Abby's plan, but I sure hope it would work or that it wasn't too late. They had all been through enough in life to have to endure any more pain. We all needed a fresh start without worry or stress.

I knew that Abby's people were more than willing to take us in and make us part of their tribe. I'm sure the others would be surprised to find about the people if they hadn't already met the cannibals. If they had, I was afraid they wouldn't be able to trust the Sea Clan fully without thinking they were anything like those creatures.

As we approached the island, Abby shouted something in their language and the boats stopped. She then shouted something else, seemingly more directed towards the island. For a moment, it was quiet. Then I heard it, a soft whistle. Others around me ducked and I was pulled down by one of the men next to me and he put his finger to his lips. All torches were snuffed out and everyone was still.

Suddenly the sky was illuminated by hundreds of arrows, most of them missed. Luckily none hitting any of the boats. I could see some of our people moving slowly, using the rudder to move the boat towards the beach, others docking their arrows into their bows and taking aim.

The force of the situation hit me, this was a war between clans. The Sea Clan were in the flesh eater's territory and they were threatened. I had never witnessed anything like this on The Ship. Sure, there may have been disagreements between those in chair positions from each station but a war was another whole thing altogether.

We finally made it to the beach watching the tree line for any movement. The bowman next to me released his arrow and I saw a man drop from a tree with an arrow sticking out from between his eyes.

I turned towards the shooter, his eyes still trained on where there may be another flesh eater. He drew his bow back again and I as I looked back out to the trees, I saw another flicker of movement which was soon shot down.

Our people were soon jumping off the boat, crouched low and ready for an attack. I decided the best place for me at this stage was behind the warriors. Abby's fist went up into the air and everyone halted.

Suddenly masses of flesh eaters flooded out of the trees towards us, very few wielding weapons other than their teeth bared. They made hissing noises at the warriors as they jumped up and tried clamping onto anything with bare flesh.

Their primal instincts made it very easy for the warriors to get the upper hand and kill them. I could see one of the younger warriors sparring off with one of the weaponized flesh eaters and the panic in his eyes when he was pushed back, off balance. I spotted a fallen spear not far from where I was standing and sprinted to pick it up, I turned back to see the flesh eater snapping at the kid, holding him down by the throat.

I weaved my way over the next few meters and stabbed the animal in the back. I watched as he toppled off the boy and offered my hand to pull him up. I felt no guilt and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

As the kid looked around, I had noticed that there weren't any more flesh eaters fighting or alive. Abby found her way over to me looking at the faces of the fallen. "Everyone is accounted for. We will make our way to your friends but we need to be on high alert for any signs of flesh eaters. We've threatened their territory so they'll be looking for blood." She tells me and I nod, understanding.

"We were on the west shore not far off the point of the other side of the island." I say to Abby and she points in that direction shouting out some instructions in her language, starting the movement of her people.

Spears were pointed towards the tree lines as we made our way towards the camp where I would hopefully find the others. I wondered if anything may have happened to them while Jupiter and I were away. What if the flesh eaters had already gotten to them? What if they were already dead?

I hugged my arms close to myself to repress the shiver that ran down my spine. We needed to get there as soon as possible to ease my raging worried thoughts and in all honesty, I just wanted to get back to Jupiter.

Arriving at the camp, it was empty. No signs of a fight but I still felt something was off. One of the guys up front shouted something to Abby and she looked back, signaling to go into the forest. They must've heard something up ahead, so hopefully, the others were still alive and it wasn't these mongrel creatures.

Just the thought of them terrified me. They were like something straight out of your deepest darkest nightmare and to think they used to be human-like, seemed absurd. Never in my life have I heard of a transformation such as that.

We broke through a bunch of palm leaves and I paused as the guy in front of me blocked my view. He turned around and looked at me, as did the others around him. I broke eye contact dreading to find what they were watching me for, as I saw the body lying still and pale on the ground with a blood pool drowning the face of Jake. He had scratches and what could've been a bruise of a bite mark on his arm, it seemed like it could've been the flesh eaters but something was off about it.

Suddenly from behind me I hear one of the guys gasp slightly and turn to see a bruised a beaten Alex holding a bloody knife to the guy's throat. "Are you alright?" He questions, quickly and out of breath.

"Yeah, Alex I'm fine. These people are good people, they saved Jupiter and me." He gives me a wary look and pushes the guy away from him softly and sending him an apologetic look in response to the deathly glare.

I look back at Abby who looks to me for instructions. "Leda Abby, this is Alex. He was one of the few that came down with us. Alex this is the leader of the Sea Clan, Leda Abby." I introduce the pair and turn back to Alex, "Where are the others? What happened to Jake"

"Jake is a long story; I'll tell you once we're out of this place. We hid when we heard the commotion. The creatures seemed to leave the area which I think was you guys doing when you arrived. I'm not sure if there are any others left." He tells me.

"Take us to the others." Abby tells him and he nods and lingers a glance at the others, eyes finally shifting to me. I nod, telling him we can trust them.

He leads us through the forest to a hollowed out tree where he sticks his head in and motions to whoever was in there to come out.  The girls lead out with Talon following last. He had similar scratches to Jake and Alex and a bruise forming on his neck with distinct fingerprints. Kate was glued to his side as soon as they were out, holding his hand.

Ruby had a small gash on her head but otherwise looked fine despite the tear stains running down her cheeks. Lexi ran immediately towards Alex and flung her arms around his neck, burying her face in his neck with an audible sigh of relief. Something serious had happened and I felt like Jake's death was the center of it.

"We need to move out, it's not safe for you if they're still here. Time for you to come home." Abby tells us, looking at our broken group. She was giving us a home, a second chance at life. And hell, was I grateful for that, we all deserved it.

Back on the boat, to our new home. I looked over the group, Ruby was looking out over the water, silent. I heard the story from Talon and Alex about what happened with Jake. Sometimes our worst enemies were ourselves and I guess for Jake this was all too much and it just broke him.

I hoped for Ruby that she would be able to make a new life for herself in the Sea Clan, maybe she could never be whole again without Jake but maybe she could also find love again.

Alex had his arms wrapped protectively around Lexi, he was never going to let her go because he knew that she was doing him the world of good. Looking at Talon and Kate, sitting side by side, holding hands, it was the same thing for them, she knew him and he knew that he loved her and that was all that mattered to him.

All I needed was Jupiter, every minute gone made me realize how serious I was about being with her. I never thought I could've believed in love at first sight and my old friends in the guard would've laughed at me and how hopelessly in love I am with her. 'Love' being a very strong word, but in the situation we were in, I realized that life was too short not to use it.

Seeing the land in the distance was a relief but when someone approached Abby and she was rushed away with a worried look on her face made me think something had happened to Jupiter or Clarke.

"Guy's come this way." I tell the group and I hurried after her, finding the healers tent where I knew I might find Jupiter. She was standing next to Clarke who was sitting on one of the makeshift benches taking to Bellamy, Abby was running hands over Clarke, looking for any sign of injury.

Jupiter turned my way and made her way over to me clutching me as soon as she could reach me. "You're okay." She stated and looked up at me with worry in her eyes.

"I'm fine." I reassured her and planted a kiss on her forehead. She gave each of the group a hug as well.

"What happened?" I ask her, looking at Clarke.

"Clarke fell and hit her head quite hard." I say and see Clarke look up at us at the mention of her name and give us a gentle smile.

"Well that's not the only thing we were worried about, were we?" Bellamy pipes up glancing down at Clarke with a smirk and I'm sure I look super confused at the exchange going on.

"Well whilst Bellamy is now going to be shouting it out to the whole camp, you might as well be the first to know. We're going to be having a baby. And it's all thanks to Jupiter that it's still safe." Clarke tells me and I look down at Jupiter who, by the expression on her face, had known this news for a while.

Abby, on the other hand, didn't and started shouting at Clarke in their language but by the way, Bellamy's looked amused I could tell it wasn't serious. I nodded at him, congratulating him and exited the tent, leaving the family to have their moment.

The others followed me out into the fresh air and I finally felt peace. I finally had a family to help look after, I had someone that loved me and that I loved. I knew we were going to be okay.


	16. XV

**_Alex_ **

We were all broken. We were all tired. I was a killer. I was dead inside. I broke away from the group, walking back down to the water's edge. I was followed by someone but I was past the point of caring that I didn't bother to look around to see who it was.

Lexi sat next to me, she didn't say anything. She just sat there. That's when my mind went into overdrive, I had killed a person. I took someone's life away. Not just someone, Jake's life. I killed Jake.

'What will Ruby think of me. I just killed the man she loved. What have I done?' That's when the tears started. I didn't deserve this; he should've just killed me. I didn't have people that loved me like Ruby did. "What have I done?" I whispered into the wind, not expecting a response but I got one anyway.

"You saved a life. Without you, Talon could be dead." I felt Lexi's arm wrap around me.

"But I killed him." I say and my voice breaks, my heart breaks. Just everything breaks.

"He would've killed you. And if he did, I don't know what I would've done." She tells me.

I look up, feeling a stray tear tumble down my cheek, "You would've been just fine-" I'm about to continue when she loses it.

"You know what Alex; no, I would not be okay. You are the first guy I've met that I actually like as a human, the rest of them are all insufferable. If you died, I don't know how I could've survived with Jake. I hated him.

Before I met you, I was considering staying on The Ship, I don't know what compelled me to get on the ship down in the first place and I had hoped that we died on the way down but then I met you. You made me want to survive, you gave me a purpose." She tells me all this and I shut her up with a kiss before she keeps trying to talk me out of what I did.

Our tears mix together but for a minute I forgot about the world. She gave me a purpose too. The only reason why I stayed with the group was because of her. There was a subconscious thought that told me, 'You don't want to die because she's worth living for' and yes she was.

"Don't ever leave me please?" I ask her.

"Never." She whispers back.

We made our way back and the next few hours were a whirlwind of meetings with council members of the Sea Clan who were all but happy to accommodate us and take us in. We were to become people of the Sea Clan and train alongside their warriors. We were given jobs of fishing, helping in the medical area and farming in the inner land plots. 

These people were to become our people; we would be able to make a life for ourselves. We were accepted by people where everyone was equal, there would be no classes, no hierarchy where someone was better than someone else and a caring leader who we could follow, knowing they would look after us.

Leda Abby saved us, gave us a home. It helped that Jupiter had saved Clarke's baby so 'our debt' was repaid in that form. Everything was going to be okay, I had Lexi by my side and we were home.

 


	17. Epilogue

 

All of them had learned the language of the ground people, Kate and Lexi went into teaching the younger children English as well as the basics of what they knew. Talon and Alex trained with the warriors but were set with the jobs of fishing with the men.

Kate and Talon managed to maintain their relationship and the locals were very concerned when a fight between the two broke out, but usually within five minutes of it starting, it finished. They were done with the animosity; they knew they loved each other and that was all they needed to get through.

Alex struggled through his depression but Lexi was his guiding light on the bad days. She knew that he would always have that weight but they would work on it together. She knew all he needed was love and that's what she gave.

Jupiter and Kekoa trained with Bellamy becoming some of the best warriors the clan had. Jupiter did this alongside sharing shifts with Clarke in the medical bay and became one of the well respected and well-known women of the clan. She even helped deliver Clarke's baby, a little boy whom she and Bellamy named Jake, after Clarke's father. They had named Kekoa and Jupiter godparents of him and were on numerous occasions put on babysitting duty.

Kekoa joined the warriors, soon becoming Bellamy's second. He came home to the love of his life every day, sheepishly showing her his newest gash to which she would roll her eyes and lead him over to their kitchen table and clean it and wrap it.

Later in life, Kekoa and Jupiter would have two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy they would call Tai, after the tides and the sea and the little girl would be called Cosmos, after their previous home.

Ruby trained alongside the warriors becoming a fierce warrior. Kekoa, in telling his Greek stories would say that she was like the goddess Artemis of the Hunt, vowing off men. That is until she met another warrior called Hari, who became her sparring partner when challenging her to a fight and she slowly fell in love with him, leaving her broken heart behind her. Jake became someone of the past for her. She was so used to seeing the good in him that it was too late when she saw the bad side and that's when she lost him.

She rarely thought of him, only when the night sky caught her eye and she would think of The Ship. She would snuggle into Hari's arms and smile at the star's cause that's where she hoped Jake would be. She knew her future was on Earth and her past was in the stars.

She finally found her place in the universe and it wasn't with Jake, and she was okay with that. She had found love again and the others were happy for her, all of them finally living their lives. Each of them would have families of their own and their children would hear stories of thei ****r parents known as 'The rain', the water people that fell from the sky.


End file.
